Supreme: The Brand that Captures You Beyond the ClothingHow a Manhattan-based skate shop used a unified design to compete with the most elite fashion companies

It’s no secret that a good, consistent and clean logo can take your brand to the next level of visual recognition before you ever make a sell.

Even for an aspiring clothing designer, half the battle isn’t just designing the pieces but creating a brand and image that shares a unity between the logo, website and social media.

Supreme, a New York-based skate company, has become one of the most iconic and recognizable brands in all of fashion, not entirely because of its clothes per say, but because of its image and branding.

The Logo

Supreme has become the pinnacle example of how streetwear can compete with high fashion brands with its limited supply and extremely high demand. The Supreme logo can be found just about anywhere, but what make’s this image so recognizable?

In short, the Supreme logo is very simple, but loud at the same time. The bright red backdrop on a simple rectangle with the word Supreme in white is an iconic logo that goes beyond the scope of just fashion.

The font is similar to Futura Bold Italic, a sans serif font that is fluid and easy on the eyes. The type is easy to read, not cluttered, and very minimalized. It’s easy to look at, soothing, and vibrant.

The “S” syllable rolls of the tongue in a very fluid motion, making “Supreme” very fluid to pronounce; sans serifs also share this smooth attribute.

The brand has been a hot commodity for over 20 years and the Manhattan-based skate shop’s success has to be credited to its well designed and recognizable logo.

The Website

Ah, the Supreme website. It’s difficult to discuss the notoriously frustrating website without mentioning its inevitable crashes during clothing drops.

With over 4 million people around the world clicking “Refresh” on the site every Thursday at 11 a.m. (EST) for a chance to grab a limited item, it can be difficult to overlook site crashes and bugs the site has.

However, when half the planet isn’t trying to cash in on a shirt, the website is not only fun to navigate, but incredibly well designed.

Unity

Unity is key with Supreme. The website is simply designed which follows the theme of the logo. Navigation is simple, and the site is free of clutter, even on the shop menu. Many other clothing sites like Forever 21 and H&M are riddled with ads, links and miscellaneous links to other shops.

With Supreme, what you click is what you get. No ads, and no clutter. Users will see large areas of white space and links to clothes only made by the company.

The site’s negative space is abundant, allowing a visitor’s eyes to stay focused on the focal point of the screen: the clothes. Because the visuals are simple, shoppers aren’t typically inundated with items.

Supreme is confident in their product and that shows with the amount of focus emphasized in the clothing.

Social Media

Instagram has become a hub for fashion. As an image-based platform, user can truly express their thoughts and message in a singular photo.

With Supreme, simple is the name of the game. The clothing brand is effective at letting its customer’s know details about new drops happening in the future. But Supreme doesn’t do this by telling you what you need to buy; it simply posts the items with a short description, and the rest is up to you.

This allows the company to build “hype” around its product. It don’t post often, but when it does, customers know it’s something worth seeing.

Wrap Up

When Supreme first started in 1994, it was a local skate shop for the youth in Manhattan. Today, Supreme’s products are high quality and exclusive. But the brand hasn’t reach its worldwide status because of its pieces necessarily, but because of its recognition and message–it’s unity.

Thanks to the brand’s strong and unified marketing, Supreme has become an elite competitor with other fashion companies.

The brand is confident, and that mood runs seamlessly throughout its content channels. Between the website, logo and social media pages, unity and similarity permeate all its platforms. This allows the observer to feel familiar with the company, no matter how or where they access its information.

Exsar Arguello

You may also like

Ira Glass is arguably the most popular name in podcast storytelling with his groundbreaking work on projects like This American Life, Serial and S-Town for WBEZ Chicago, an NPR affiliate, and the rest of the world. In his Sunday session at South by...